Workers' Party (Singapore)
in Singapore, SingaporeCategory: Attraction
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The Workers' Party (abbreviation: WP; simplified Chinese: 工人党; traditional Chinese: 工人黨; Malay: Parti Pekerja; Tamil: பாட்டாளிக் கட்சி), is a centre-left opposition political party in Singapore. The party currently has nine elected seats in Parliament, with the party's Secretary-General Pritam Singh, Chairman Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Low Thia Khiang serving as Members of Parliament (MPs) for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Png Eng Huat as the MP for the single-member constituency of Hougang. Since 2011, the Workers' Party has been the only opposition party in Singapore to have elected MPs in Parliament.
The Workers' Party was founded on 3 November 1957 by Singapore's former Chief Minister, David Marshall.
In 1981, the party's then-leader J. B. Jeyaretnam became the first opposition MP to be elected to Parliament since Singapore's independence in 1965, when he defeated the candidate of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) at a by-election in the constituency of Anson. He was re-elected at the 1984 general election, but subsequently lost his seat in Parliament in 1986 following a conviction for falsely accounting the party's funds, a conviction Jeyaretnam has always maintained was politically motivated. Since the 1991 general election, the party has held the seat of Hougang. Low Thia Khiang was elected as MP for Hougang in 1991 and re-elected at the 1997, 2001 and 2006 general elections. Low moved to Aljunied GRC for the 2011 general election where he led the first team from an opposition party to win a GRC, while Yaw Shin Leong held the Hougang seat for the party. Yaw was expelled from the party in February 2012, which triggered a by-election in Hougang. The seat was retained by the Workers' Party's candidate, Png Eng Huat. On 12 December 2012, Speaker of Parliament and incumbent PAP MP for Punggol East, Michael Palmer, resigned from his seat. After the Prime Minister issued the writ of election for the Punggol East by-election, the Workers' Party announced on 14 January 2013 that Lee Li Lian, who stood in Punggol East in the 2011 general election, had been chosen to represent the party. On 26 January 2013, Lee Li Lian made history as the first woman to win a by-election. However, she narrowly lost her seat in the 2015 general election amid the massive swing towards the PAP.
A number of Workers' Party members have also served as Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs). Lee Siew Choh served as an NCMP from 1988 to 1991. Jeyaretnam returned to Parliament as an NCMP from 1997 to 2001 and Sylvia Lim has served as an NCMP from 2006 to 2011. Two members of the party, Gerald Giam and Yee Jenn Jong, served as NCMPs between 2011 and 2015. After the 2015 general election, the Workers' Party nominated Dennis Tan Lip Fong, its candidate in Fengshan SMC, as well as Leon Perera and Daniel Goh Pei Siong, two members of its East Coast GRC team, to serve as NCMPs in the current parliament.
In recent years, the Workers' Party's candidates have worn a uniform of light blue shirts while campaigning to represent the party's links with the blue collar workers.
